Entrepreneurship

In this week’s Space Cafè WebTalk, Kenneth Hodgkins, President of International Space Enterprise Consultants in Virginia talked about his wide-ranging thoughts on working towards a shared vision for our future global space economy

The International Astronautical Federation’s annual event, the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), has been at the centre of innovation for the space community for 70 years. As such the annual event plays an important role to allow space professionals and the young generation to disseminate their research and develop collaborations.

by Nelly-Helen Neji Ebruka As often said, when men reached for the stars, lawyers reached for their books. After Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight in 1957, the international community through the United Nations deemed it pertinent to agree on certain principles and rules to regulate outer space affairs. Space exploration undoubtedly brought new ideas in the development of various fields like science, medicine, media and communications, etc. and of course legal lacuna had to be filled.

Myriota, the world leader in low-cost and long battery life satellite connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT), has announced a new partnership with Future Fleet International, an Australian telematics provider that delivers advanced fleet management solutions.

Isotropic Systems, a leading developer of transformational broadband terminal technologies, today announced it has appointed antenna development veteran and former Phasor CTO John-Paul (JP) Szczepanik as Senior Vice President of Engineering to spearhead the engineering development of the company’s multi-beam terminal leading to commercial launch in government, aero, maritime and telco markets.

Momentus , provider of in-space transportation services for satellites, and Astrogate Labs, a space technology startup from Bengaluru, developing optical communication terminals and a ground network for smallsats, announced a launch service agreement for a 3U satellite to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), to be launched in December 2021 on the second Vigoride commercial mission, as well as a 6U option.

Benchmark Space Systems, a leading provider of in-space propulsion systems for small satellites, today announced a permanent licensing partnership to integrate Tesseract Space intellectual property, assets, and staff to elevate Benchmark’s major expansion in the development, deployment and support of its exclusively non-toxic chemical propulsion solutions for global rideshare markets.

The United Arab Emirates will launch a navigation satellite next year aimed at demonstrating the country’s technological capabilities, a top official told Emirates News Agency, WAM."The first satellite will be launched in 2021 and the second – a technologically enhanced one – the following year," said Dr. Khaled Al Hashmi, Director of the National Space Science and Technology Centre, NSSTC, in UAE University in Al Ain.

With the launch of the Geomatics on the Move 2020 competition, the European GNSS Agency (GSA), in collaboration with the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE), continues its drive to promote the use of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) - EGNOS and Galileo, and Earth observation - Copernicus - as engines of innovative growth for the European economy. A wide participation from all over the European Union is expected.

Orbit Fab builds and operates gas stations in space and has proven its in-space fluid transfer system as the first private company to resupply the International Space Station with water.